late and early

After all the beautiful sunshine days

you could say the weather today was 

disappointing.

In fact it rained alllllll day long.

What better way to use such a day

than to do someting that you should have done

a long time ago

Ha,  ofcourse there are a lot of such things ...

(like cleaning up the room I'm sitting in right now)

but in this case I mean

making this month's felting-exchange piece.

The theme was "parts" and "uniting"

The idea for it was long in my head,

but every time I wanted to get started

something else happened.

Four parts in dark lilac and three shades of turqoise,

at the side the colour of one part runs along the side of the next.

Four spikes in the same colours, put into opposite coloured parts.

Then I cut open the top layer.

I liked it this way, but ... as I have to send it in the mail 

I opted for this version.

HA ! then onto the next !

The theme for next month was a bit awkward :

"autumn colours"

(well, the exchange goes on for a whole year ....

and some people do love autumn best)

So, in the middle of the green spring : autumn !

First some different coloured spikes, then, they were covered with "autumn"

All felting by hand, otherwise the veins would have disappeared.

And then :

cutting into the surface of the veins 

to reveal the colours inside

;-)

Later in the afternoon

I sewed some seed beads and stitches 

on the "parts" one

Tomorrow both pieces will be in the mail

and I hope each one of the receivers likes her piece.

transient beauty

I'm always waiting for some special flowers 

to appear.

They're there one moment

...

and gone the next.

(well not thát quick of course ...

but in a manner of speaking short-lived)

Ta-daaaaah 

Papaver orientale

(a perennial plant)

Some years I wait and there's not a flower in sight

but this time :

three beauties together

(and more to come)

*

For my challenge with the embellisher

I made two more "lines"

"lifeline"

(without the string, the kite will fall down / die)

and

"washing line"

(I did the washing line another time 

because I wasn't satisfied with the first one)

Now waiting for Sara's next instruction, this weekend

;-)

more challenge

Although it's already the fourth week

of Sara's challenge

I didn't get around making any new pages.

That's often how it goes :

ideas need some time to stew.

All the "input" has to be turned around and around

in my head, even if I'm not thinking specifically

of making something.

My theme was clear to me 

and I have some little sketches with ideas

but what I'm actually making

can change 

...

One of the lines I thought about were roads,

railway lines, coast/shore line

so I had an old road map

of which I just snipped off a piece

 to somehow use in a page.

It just so happened to be a part of "Zeeland"

in the South West of our country.

All of a sudden it came to me what to write,

after I made the back 

with a blue piece of wool on the embellisher

and punched the map onto it :

In February 1953 

a violent storm together with spring tide

caused a major flooding in a big part of Holland

especially in Zeeland.

I was almost 6 yaers old and I remember very well, 

how far, even in Rotterdam, the water had risen. 

I also finished another page I had prepared earlier.

First I just made some thin lines in running stitch

before I started "writing" with the machine.

  I "wrote" the same words on a piece of  fabric

that I will use as backing of the page.

The fourth week's instruction was one big letter on a page,

like in a medieval manuscript ...

but in fact I did already 

a big "E" on a page.

(maybe I give it another go)

birthday boy

Last Sunday we had a birthday boy :

youngest grandson is two years old now !

Still a bit shy after his nap,

with mom's present 

already tight in his arms :

a bear to accompany his two little monkeys

("zij maakt het") 

We brought with us the other present

that his mom chose for him

which was delivered at our house

to keep it a secret.

It didn't take long before he knew

how to handle the bike 

;-)

One of the other presents :

paper and thick pencils.

It was a wonderful day!

(With the first present he didn't quite catch what to do with it,

but he quickly learned that there was something fun

inside the colourful paper !)

The next day the bear had his portrait taken,

so he can be a star on "Ravelry"

*

Today was probably the last hot day,

so I took some more pictures of the garden

(one of the last blue irises)

so very special !

Love and friendship

 

Those things make life so special.

 

This afternoon I came home from baby-sitting

my youngest grandson,

to hear that a package arrived.

Oh yes, we ordered a (walking) bike

for the little one who has his second birthday

this Sunday.

 

No, no :

another package arrived too !

 

I must tell you I expected a small package, or a letter,

but this was BIG !

Daughter was there too and she stayed

to see me open it

 

A lot of ahhhhh's and ohhhhh's

 

(I think you can agree with that)

 

My dear blogging and felting friend

Fiona

(yes, the one I had this wonderful on-line felting class with)

had promesed to dye some silk for me

for my final piece for the class.

So that was something I expected,

but not this gorgeous stash,

for lots and lots of felting and knitting fun !!!

 

amazingly handdyed yarns

 

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH,  FIONA !

 

I'm over the (full) moon !

 

I can finally start with my final class project

and some wonderful knitting.

 

Uhhhhm ... about knitting

 :

I found a pattern for the "Kauni" yarn

I bought last summer in Zwolle during the holiday.

 

(yes, you see :  I really love those colours Fiona picked for me !)

 

*

 

And a last peek in the garden

(green after allllll the rain, and now enjoying the sun again)

 

 

 

 

 



Ohhh, that moon (14 - 5 - 14)

Yesterday evening

when I shut down the computer

a wonderful full moon shone through the curtains.

 

I stepped out on the balcony

and tried for the umpteenth time

to take a picture of it

...

and once more :

nothing good enough to show

(I don't know how other people do it)

 

It made me want to draw one today instead,

as tonight is our last mandala evening for this season.

 

 

I combined it with a bit of garden :

the Allium roseum have spread everywhere

but I don't mind.

I love their delicate withish pink petals

 

 

They spread

because (good) bulbs underground do,

but also because they have lots of tiny brood bulbs

at the bottom of the flower cluster

;-)

 

I thought the moon and my Alliums to be an excellent combination

for an extra mandala today

 

 



a bright day

Some days are bright

because there is sunshine

 

But some days are bright

because there is friendship

 

Today was a friendship day !

 

My dear blogging friend Mirjam

(though a lot of people refer to her as "Stins")

visited me today.

We had a date before,

but then there were things that came "in between"

so I was glad everything worked out all right today.

 

She made me this lovely crochet mandala.

 

 

The plan was :

to do some wet felting

.....

but first we had coffee and talked a lot.

 

Daughter came by, to meet Mirjam

and we talked some more.

 

We looked in the garden

and talked about our gardens and the different plants.

(so talked a lot)

 

 

Mirjam (and her two men and cats) moved to a new house last year.

 I then brought her some cuttings from my garden

and now I had some more.

 

We had lunch

and 

yes ... you can guess what we did.

 

In the end we had talked an awful lot and had fun

 but ..... there was no time for felting today

(ha : we talked a lot about felting !!!)

 

When she left, we almost forgot to take

the little plants I had collected for her again,

but just in time she remembered.

:-)

We put them in a big plastic box.

 

I will take that home again,

next time

when I'm visiting her !

 

THANKS Mirjam,

I had a wonderful bright day !

 

 

 

mother's day

Daughter,

who is a mother herself

and who visited us today

(to do some knitting on my old knitting machine)

reminded me :

 

THE MOM SONG !!!

 

Please go over there and have a good laugh,

now

and any other day !

 

Here's the link :

 

                                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nem0bkErGVY

 

 

Happy Mother's day




Sara said ...

Sara said :

"that's part of the challenge,

not knowing what comes next !"

Well ...

it is true : I like to be in controle

But it's also true :

when you're aware of the next step in the process

it influences the move(s) you make.

I think it would have been better

if we would have known

we needed some kind of focal point

in the design of the first page

.....

So

I put my first "first" page aside

and started with another idea I had for lines

lines in a face

(eyebrows, eyeliner, crow's feet, wrinkles)

After a light drizzle in the morning

there was a bit of Sunshine this afternoon,

enough to sit on the treshold

and do some stitching.

Wink ... a new "first" page !

     The second page               with a hole in it  

                        

and the two pages together

Now I'll wait for Sara's next move

.....

;-)